Day 52

Where does inspiration come from – 1

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A particular author who wrote a book on writing, one of many it seems, opined that the main source of inspiration is … you!

Just look at your family … there’s a definite gold mine of characters right there, and mine is no exception. I could write a story for each of them, and what might happen if they all came together at a reunion. Yes, perhaps that’s not a good idea.

Who’s been to a wedding, or funeral, and …

Then there are your friends. You know the saying, you can pick your friends and not your relatives. Yes true, but sometimes they pick themselves. These friends are from school, though I no longer have any from that time, work, as you transition through your work life these change, and for me, the earlier characters were just that, characters, and a lot of them turn up in stories.

There is where you live, the city, the country, places you;ve been on holiday, the people you meet, the regions.

I know when I go on holiday it is another source of information and experiences and I take lots of photos and make copious notes of everything, people, food, sights, events, and experiences.

What happens to you in those first years, from primary school to graduation, then perhaps university or trade school, to where you start working, the changes in vocations for many different reasons, the partners you find, stay, leave, forget, or pine over, all these emotions are grist to the mill.

Later in life, those experiences are not quite as poignant or perhaps as memorable, but that’s most likely because you are more settled and less adventurous. I found that with the coming of grandchildren and reading to them as young children, it was a time when I started inventing my own stories for them, and then for them to read the stories back to me.

Now I have a three-volume princess story that was written over time for them, about their growing up, and exploration of the world around them becoming a vast source of material.

Inspiration is, quite literally, all around you.